Argus Labs, a startup developing an SDK for creating functionally interoperable blockchain games, closed a $10 million seed round. It was led by Haun Ventures, the former Andreessen Horowitz partner Kathy Haun.
Thrilled to announce our $10M seed round led by @HaunVentures with participation from prominent funds, strategic investors, and angels, including @AlchemyPlatform @robotventures @eladgil @balajis, @cjliu49, @blader, and other to push the envelope of fully onchain games. pic.twitter.com/8DaZmYmzkU
— ARGUS ◢ ✦ ◣ (@ArgusLabs_) June 6, 2023
The company was backed by tech and gaming angel investors, including Elad Gil, Balaji Srinivasan and Siki Chen, Kevin Aluvi, Sanni Agarwal, Calvin Liu and Scott Moore.
Funding was also provided by Robot Ventures, Anagram and Dispersion Capital.
With the World Engine SDK, developers can create and configure interoperable game worlds.
“Online games were born on the internet, but they are isolated, cut off from the vast potential of a connected universe,” said the startup’s founder Scott Sunarto.
The entrepreneur is known as the creator of the “first MMORTS game Dark Forws based on zk-SNARK technology.” Difficulties arising from the constraints inherent in current blockchain architecture spurred him to build World Engine.
Sunarto envisions the SDK as a “connected L2 layer for blockchains in the form of open-source sharded networks that will serve as the backbone for the Internet of Games.”
Such a structure enables load distribution across high-performing gaming segments.
Such a shard integrates easily with major engines and delivers the features and performance expected from a traditional game server.
“The line between blockchain and game server is becoming blurred,” the company said.
The base World Engine EVM shard gives players and developers a central place to build content and platforms that can easily interact with game shards through a dedicated routers system.
The startup has attracted its first private beta testers for several select teams.
In March 2022, Haun Ventures attracted $1.5 billion for investments in Web3.
In May, Andreessen Horowitz formed its fourth crypto fund with a capacity of $4.5 billion. The vehicle will focus on supporting Web3 startups.
In August, Haun Ventures led an investment round for Thirdweb, a platform for Web3 developers.
In April 2023, venture firm Bitkraft raised $220.6 million to launch its second fund to invest in the gaming Web3 sector.